Konoha, The Next Ninja Generation
by lotrcrazygirl
Summary: Kinaga and Kamoku along with their class mate begin their journeys as Genin of the Hidden Leaf.  New adventure, Friendships and Romance awaite them along with run ins with all your favourite characters from the original Anime and Manga series
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: New Chunin

**Prologue**

In the years following the victory of Allied Ninja Villages of this world over the evil organisation that called themselves the Akatsuki the young heroes of the Great War soon took on the challenge of preparing the next generation of Shinobi for the hardships that they may have to overcome in their lives.

To recount here all that happened in just one alone of the battles of this "War to End All Wars" as so many referred to it in those days would take many years however among the most famous of the events have been listed below.

After the rescue of Gaara the young Kazukage by Team Kakashi an emergency meeting was held by the five great Kages of the Shinobi world to discuss actions that must be taken against the evil corporation. A decision was made to place a spy amongst the Akatsuki's midst in order to deduce just what they planned to achieve through stealing the Chibi from the great Kage of the Sand. It was thus concluded that Itachi Uchiha – Konoha's finest Jounin – was chosen to undertake this perilous task.

Following his acceptance of the task the Five Great Nations slowly gained the information they required to plot the removal of Madara the evil leader of Akatski from the face of the Earth and any Shinobi stupid enough to stand in their way.

After months of drawing their plans the Five Kages sent orders to their beloved Nin to prepare for battle. Carnage followed and many noble Shinobi lost their lives leaving many in doubt and despair.

However, just as hope was beginning to wane; what many can only describe as miracles began to occur. There first of these miraculous event was the return of an almost unrecognisable Naruto Uzamaki from years of vigorous training to become a Sage like his Sensei Jiriya of the Legendary Senin and his defeat of the amazingly powerful Rinagan wielder who called himself Pein and his enraged minion Konan. Following this fortunate turn of events Harino Sakura singlehandedly defeated Sasori the Puppet Master of the Sand.

With the removal of three members of the Akatsuki in such a short amount of time hope rose within the Shinobi's ranks and the demise of Kakuzu and his partner Hidan quickly followed at the hands of Shikumaru of the Leaf and Tamari of the Sand.

With the numbers of the Akatsuki dwindling at an alarming rate Madara was forced to take more direct action resulting in the beginning of the greatest battle of the fourth Shinobi War. Madara considered his remaining five members to be perfectly adequate to take down the Shinobi host, however unbeknownst to him Itachi had been deceiving him for the whole time that he had been his supposed puppet of war and as if this was not troublesome enough for Madara, Itachi had also managed to save Deidara - his partner in mission that he carried out for the Akatsuki – from Madara's evil clutches. To say that the odds were against this Sharingan wielding lunatic was an understatement!

As the five cloaked characters began to run towards the huge Shinobi crowd smoke sprung from the ground in front of them to the bewilderment of the battle pumped ninja who starred with confused eyes at the shadows and cries issuing from the slowly dispersing smoke screen.

Minutes passed before four figures leapt out of the smoke as suddenly as it had appeared however two had shed their cloud embroidered cloaks and where now standing on the Shinobi hosts side there long raven and blonde locks billowing in the wind. The other two stood glaring at the troublesome duo that had destroyed any chance of their victory with their decision to disobey their orange masked leader. It seemed to the astonished spectators of this strange turn of events that the glaring match dragged on for hours until gasps issued all around as the smoke cleared to reveal the mangled corpse of a Missing nin who could only be described as half human in that he appeared to have a large set of gills framing his shock stricken face.

The enraged Uchiha continued to glare at his Blood Brother from behind his mask. The phrase "If looks could kill" was clearly fashioned for this precise moment.

To Madara's utter amazement a sly smile stretched across the young Uchiha's face as he looked back indifferently at the man that was at that very moment imagining tearing him limb from limb in the slowest and most painful way he could imagine.

As the reality of the situation seeped through the crazed Madara's thick wooden mask and into his brain he realised that the battle was now hopeless but before he could teleport away a previously un-noticed AMBU squad led by Gaara Kazukage and Shikumaru of the Leaf stepped in launching hell in the form of hundreds of paper bomb burdened Kunai on the real life demon that stood before them. Madara's shock was so great that he was unable to react to the solid wall of sharpened blades hurtling towards him faster than the eye could see and his final thoughts extinguished along with his life.

In the years following this great day of victory the two former Akatsukis became powerful in their villages with Itachi Uchiha eventually succeeding the ill minded Danzou as the head of the ANBU organisation in Konohagakur. Lady Stunade was later replaced as Hokage by Naruto Uzamaki who also surpassed his Father Minato as the youngest Hokage of all time at a mere 19 years of age.

Many happy years followed under the protection of Naruto and saw many unions of his friends in marriage including to his great surprise Ino and his best friend Sasuke whom he had considered to hate the strong willed blonde. He was also ecstatic to see his previous admirer Hinata and Kiba tie the knot along with Shikumaru and Tamari the sister of Kazukage Gaara. However to say that he was down hearted by the pairing of his childhood crush Sakura and Uchiha Itachi was more than a understatement although he knew that he would be happy for them once the shock of it had sunk in.

The Young Hokage smiled to himself as he considered how powerful and influential both he and all of his previous class mates had become and could not contain his excitement when he pondered on the Chounin exams that would be gracing his beloved Konohagakur in just under a week.

**Chapter 1**

A flash of her dazzling red hair flew with the brisk wind as she sprinted head on towards the academy entrance leaving the faces of disapproving villagers in her wake.

"I can't be late! Not on my first day as a Chunin for God's sake!" she cried as she burst through the archway leading towards the nostalgically familiar courtyard abode of her days as a first year at the school. _It seems like almost yesterday when I first stepped through this arch way_, she reminisced to herself _although_ she admitted with her familiar sarcastic grin _I may have been a little less out of breath back then_.

"What are you looking so pleased about Kinaga- kun? Don't you remember the most important rule as of a Shinobi?" accused the -regrettably- familiar voice of Hokorashi from a shadowy corner.

_Oh fantastic_ she thought rolling her eyes in exasperation. _I can already tell that today is going to so much fun!_ Even just in her head she could hear her voice oozing with sarcasm. Deciding to humour her comrade she replied perfectly calmly to his demand.

"What might that be then Hokorashi-san?" she replied with no hint of irony whilst fighting with all her might to restrain the unavoidable curl of her lip which plagued her existence when it came to lying, flirting or just generally annoying her acquaintances.

"You know full well what I'm talking about! I can tell! Don't think I don't know when you're lying! It is important for a Shinobi to know his comrades every little trait on the Battle field" He replied smugly. The Uchiha's annoyingly observant nature had yet again foiled Kinaga's Teasing Action Plan for the day. She had been sure that she had concealed her bluff calling card from at least one of her friends (if that's what _he_ could be considered as anyway.)

"God damn it Hoko! Quit being such a smart ass and let me go find Sensei already! You know I'm late!" She could feel her cheeks slowly beginning to match her hair colour as her face temperature rose along with her rage.

Luckily for Hokorashi he noticed Kinaga's fists slowly clenching and beginning to tremble giving him just enough time to skilfully dodge a well aimed fist from his fiery comrade. He may be proud, but even Hokorashi had to admit that Kinaga packed a hell of a punch!

"Ok! Ok! You can go just remember that you're a Chunin now so things are gonna' get a lot more intense for you from here on out" He called as she stormed down the corridor with her eyes on fire.

"Worthless piece of shi..." she began before noticing just in time where she was as her Sensei walked out of one of the first years class rooms. Quickly changing colour from ruby red to a sickly green she employed her best casually surprised voice. "Oh. H- hey, Sempai. I -ummm- I didn't see you there." The newly appointed Chounin smile innocently up at her young, pink haired teacher, Harino Sakura.

As she casually leant against the tall beige wall outside the academy students study room, Kamoku considered how different her life would be now that both she and her best girl friend had qualified as a Chunin of Konoha. Of course she realised that most things would remain the same – like the fact that she would still hold a personal vendetta against Hokorashi for being such a pompous ass or that more importantly she would continue to try her best with her training – but even so the added responsibility of new duties in the village and the pressure of maybe having to lead her own ninja squad out on missions gave the mousy haired nin butterflies (though she hated to admit it).

Whilst musing on this she heard the faint yet incredibly distinct sound of her friend's bouncy footsteps echoing down the corridor.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" shot her fiery haired friends incriminating voice from the opposing end of the hallway. Kamoku considered sending an equally accusing answer down the corridor before Kinaga's enraged brown eyes came into view betraying her apparent anger at the situation causing the now cowering nin to reconsider this notion.

"S- s- sorry Kina. I thought you were still with Sakura Sempai. I was just about to come and look for you" she stammered with the sweetest smile that she could muster. "I thought you were working on your medical jutsu all day?"

"No I managed to esca..." realising what she was saying the mischievous shinobi quickly corrected herself. "I mean... finish everything early today. Now how about we go shopping to celebrate our new statuses?" She returned her friend's sweet smile hoping that her offer of a girly day out would encourage her friend to let that almost fatal error slip. She was pleased to see a short flash of white as Kamoku quickly rolled her saucer like green eyes and agreed to go shopping.

As she walked down out of the academy gates and down the dusty streets towards the shops Kamoku cursed her weakness for a healthy dose of retail therapy though she soon managed to convince herself that her friend's Sensei would make her favourite student catch up on her missed lessons tomorrow as she cast her glowing eyes over her favourite shops new season of ninja wear.

She slumped onto her bed exhausted allowing her long auburn hair to lie where it chose. She hadn't realised that what her friend called a "short shopping trip" in fact consisted of three solid hours in her high heeled ninja sandals and at least eleven separate trips to the shops' changing rooms! After dumping her bulging shopping bags – containing an admittedly kick ass new outfit picked out by her best girl friend - on her room's wooden floor she began to question whether shopping was really a better alternative to ten hours of nonstop medical jutsu training. As she dwelt on her hardships she slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep pondering missions to come.


	2. Chapter 2: Beginning of a Mission

**AN: **Ok, so I probably should have written this before to avoid the confusion that I inflicted on everyone in my last chapter, I just forgot that not everyone in the world knows what is going on in my mind! Sorry! ^_^ Anyway I guess I should introduce the characters that appear in the first chapter and this one as well.

Firstly there is Kinaga the red head medical Chunin. She is Harino Sakura's favourite student as she shares certain characteristics with her teacher like her hot headedness and her gift for Chakra control. Kinaga is a very sarcastic girl who loves to tease her friends. She also appears to be allergic to hard work when it comes to training but will do anything for her friends and comrades. She is not related to anyone of importance in the actual Naruto world, Shippuden or otherwise. (She's entirely my creation! Mwahaha! ^_^)

After this we meet Hokorashi a stereotypical member of the Uchiha clan- which I decided would be more interesting to keep in existence for my story! (^_^) Hokorashi is very confident and is also a member of Harino Sakura's Team Five. He is an extremely arrogant and obnoxious boy who is often despised by Kinaga and Kamoku for his constant pig headed behaviour and apparent general lack of what the two girls refer to as "human emotion". He is a member of the Uchiha; however Hokorashi is not closely related to Itachi or Sasuke.

After Hokorashi appears we finally meet Kamoku for the first time. Kamoku and Kinaga are childhood friends and even though Kamoku was put into Team Two without her BFF they remained close throughout their whole six years as ninja of the Leaf. Kamoku has mousy hair and is very shy around anyone who she has not known for most of her life. However it can be noted that her confidence has grown since becoming friends with the fiery haired, outgoing Kinaga in her childhood and is much more confident in a crowd when she is not put in the centre of attention. Her Sensei is Shikumaru and her team mates will be revealed later on in the story. She is the Daughter of Asuma and Kurenai. Her father died when she was only ten years old and recently after she entered the Ninja Academy (I know I changed this but I wanted her to be a bit older so that later events don't seem completely _inappropriate_) After her father's death Kamoku may have returned to her previous life of solitary confinement however with her best friends help she got through her time of grief emerging a much stronger woman. This sad time also made the two friends relationship become even closer and stronger. She loves her friends above all else with shopping coming in a close second in her order of affections. She is a hard worker and almost as intelligent as her sensei whom she can often be found playing Shogi with after a long day of training together.

In this chapter I am also introducing Shan.

Shan is an amazingly beautiful nin who is the third member of Sakura's Team Five. Her dazzling looks have often caused her grief as some have mistaken her for dim witted. Few things make Shan angry but being called stupid purely on the basis of her remarkably good looks is the one thing that really rattles her chain. Her good looks have of coarse proven beneficial in that she could easily blag free meals for both her and her friends on long missions if they ever ran out of money. She is a member of the high branch of the Huuga Clan and is an extremely accomplished Byakugan user. She is Hinata's younger cousin on her father's side and although she shares her cousin's good looks she does not share her shy personality and can often be heard flirting with young boys who cannot help but become star struck by her accomplished teasing styles. Shan is the third and final member of Sakura's team five.

Well that's all of the characters personalities and backgrounds covered for now! I hope that makes things a bit clearer for you all ^_^. If there is anything else you would like to know about any of these characters please let me know and I will try to explain.

Well there's nothing left to say now apart from thanx for reviewing my last instalment and I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Let me know what you think and any suggestions for changes that might make my stories a bit more interesting for you all ^_^ (don't worry! Things will start to get going soon ^_^)

Oh yeh **DISCLAIMER!**Obviously I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Why else would I be uploading to a website called **?** seriously, some copyrighty people are just clueless! (^_^)

**Chapter 2**

The sunrays poured through the open window signifying the start of another day in Konoha. The beams of light soon found their way to Kinaga's heavy lids as she lay half asleep in her cluttered bedroom.

Medical Ninja scrolls lay splayed across the floor along with her old books from the academy containing useful notes on her previous studies. A small dressing table at the corner of the room contained items she deemed far too important to become lost in her mountain of scrolls. Among these treasures was her first ever photo of Team Five. In it Shan, Sakura Sensei and herself smiled up at the viewer in what could only be described as uncontrollable bliss however the scowl on Hokorashi's face somewhat ruined this effect. _Well to be honest, what did I expect from an Uchiha _she told herself whenever she saw him. Her solution was – of course – to block him out with a thick piece of parchment, leaving just herself, her friend and her Sensei on display.

As she smiled at her memories as a young Genin with Shan she was suddenly reminded that she was meeting her for breakfast at Ichiraku Ramen -their favourite morning abode- in just under an hour. _Oh Wahoo! Late again!_ She sighed as she rushed around her room searching for her new outfit.

Quickly pulling on her new pink flared three quarter lengths, white skirt and -her personal favourite- navel exposing dark pink top, she stuffed her new gloves and weapons into her rucksack, whilst pushing the door open with her freshly sandaled foot. She eventually stumbled out of her front door ignoring her mother's cries of complaint over her not being in for dinner the night before.

_Just in time _she thought as she rounded the corner and her bleach-blonde haired friend's dazzling smile came into view. Her friend's angelic looks often made Kinaga wonder how on Earth Shan wasn't a vain, stuck up little bitch like the rest of the "pretty" girls who could be easily mistaken for being plain when they stood next to the perfect, slender figure of her flawless friend. Kinaga was just glad that she considered herself plain anyway otherwise she may have been intimidated by the pale skinned beauty.

"Wow! Loving the new outfit Ki!" Shan cried in approval at Kamoku's shopping related handy work.

"Yeh! Kamoku picked it out for me yesterday after I finished my training with Sempai." She smiled happily.

"Oh! That reminds m..." Shan began to say however she was cut across by Kinaga.

"Hey you got a new outfit too!" Kinaga interrupted as loudly as possible hoping that this -along with the invitation to talk about clothes- would be enough to distract Shan from giving her the angry message from her Sensei.

Shaking her head in exasperation Shan looked to the sky before eventually giving in.

Kamoku stood outside of the Hokage's office feeling much smaller than usual. She had thought that by wearing her cute new denim hot pants and fish net leggings she would have improved her confidence just a little bit. Unfortunately no such luck for the young Chunin with the wild mousy hair.

Kamoku had never spoken to her Hokage in private before and -to be perfectly honest with herself- the prospect of being at the centre of attention in front of one of the greatest Shinobi Heroes of the Fourth Great Ninja War –not to mention the son of the Fourth Hokage and currently the strongest ninja in the whole of Konoha- terrified the hell out of her.

And so she awaited her orders -literally shaking in her high heeled ninja boots- whilst waging war against her ridiculous emotions. Her insides suddenly dropped as she heard the creek of Naruto Uzamaki's office door as his confident voice travelled down the hallway inviting her into his office.

Dragging her suddenly heavy feet into his office her eyes remained glued to the floor as she stumbled in front of her Hokage and addressed him with the bravest voice that she could muster.

When she finally looked up she saw the Yellow haired man looking upon her with his kind blue eyes and his trademark toothy grin on his face. Encouraged that she had not yet managed to anger her superior in any way the young Shinobi returned his smile thought it was fair to say that she appeared a little less enthusiastic than her leader.

"Kamoku Sarutobi isn't it?" he inquired kindly. When the young girl nodded he continued with a sympathetic smile "I knew your father Asuma. He would have been proud of how you performed last week at the exams"

"Thank you sir." The Nin replied with a sad little smile on her face recalling how her father had died in the War when she was only ten years old at the hands of the evil Hidan of the Akatsuki.

The man looked compassionately at the young girl standing opposite him, whose delicate features had all but disappeared behind the curtain of her golden hair as her –now teary- emerald eyes became glued to the shiny wooden floor yet again.

Deciding that ignoring her sadness was probably the kindest way forward where this shy girl was concerned the yellow haired commander quickly drew a small scroll out of his desk's solitary draw and placed it carefully on its wooden surface- no easy task as the desk was piled high with paper work that was obviously weeks overdue.

"This needs to be delivered to the Kazekage within the next three days. I want you to escort it to him personally. It is of the utmost importance that he gets this message himself. You should take a four man squad with you to allow you safe and speedy passage."

His tone was stern whilst remaining kind. This appeared to be a characteristic that only Naruto Uzamaki possessed and it installed faith in the young ninja who quickly recovered from her moment of grievous reflection to reply with as much conviction as possible

"Hai, Hokage"

He nodded at her as she retrieved the precious scroll –careful not to knock over any of the tottering paperwork- and bowed quickly before taking her leave.

Shikumaru considered the Shogi board carefully thinking through his next move. The white tiles on his opponent's side of the field looked nowhere near as intimidating as they had done the night before. There was clearly something on the girls mind as she would never leave such a huge gap in her strategy as he had just identified if she was completely immersed in the game.

His dark eyes slowly panned up from the board and into her deep green eyes that appeared hazy as she rested in her own little world of thoughts that had nothing to do with the Shogi board in front of her.

Letting out a trouble sigh the Jounin softly called her name, yet her eyes remained foggy. After three consecutive attempts he changed tact.

"Kamoku!" He called sharply this time causing the nin a little start as her eyes refocused quickly and became wide with shock. Chuckling fondly at her startled expression her teacher inquired what was distracting her from their favourite pass time.

Bowing her head nervously she stammered in reply, "S- s- sorry sempai. I was just worrying about m- my mission again." A sad grimace appeared on her face as she avoided eye contact with her master. "I- I'm not sure who I should bring with me and I have no idea how to create an effective battle formation" she continued sadly.

"Well that's nonsense" he cried encouragingly. "Just look at the number of times you've beaten me at Shogi. There's no difference in strategic formations on the battlefield than there is in this game." He continued to look at the girl trying desperately to make her feel better. He hated it when his favourite student lost her confidence. It caused him much distress to see the corner of her eyes glitter much like the emeralds they so closely resembled as fresh tears began to run down her cheeks.

"But Shogi pieces don't disappear when they are removed from the game. I don't want to play god with my friends' lives." She wept.

Rising from the table Shikumaru moved to her side resting a protective hand on her shoulder. "You'll be just fine" he smiled as she looked up with her glistening eyes: "I have perfect faith in you."

**AN:** Well there you have it! Please review so that I can tell if I'm doing anything wrong so that I can address the problem in the next chapter. Thanx for reading ^_^


	3. Chapter 3: Leadership Skills

AN: I will be again introducing some new characters in this chapter.

Oishii is a very attractive ninja. He is an elite member of the AMBU. He is also an Uchiha and Hokorashi's (rather more appealing – in both looks and personality) older brother of two years. His affinity with the sharingan has allowed him to progress through the AMBU ranks at a rapid rate.

Ganjou is a member of Team Two with Kamoku whom he has formed an almost brotherly bond with over the free years that they have spent under their genius Sensei Shikumaru. He is the only member of Team Two to have successfully honed his Water nature chakra abilities and has reached an amazingly advanced stage of control for his age. He is not related to any one from the original Naruto manga or anime.

Hyoukin is the third and final member of Team Shikumaru. She is Kiba's niece. Her golden furred ninja hound is named Nonika they have been together since Nonika's days as a puppy. Hyoukin and Ganjou have been dating for almost two years.

Well if there is anything else you would like to know about any of these new characters please let me know and I will try to explain.

Well there's nothing left to say now but ENJOY (also review, review, review!) ^_^

Whilst I would love to tell you all that I own everything relating to Naruto and demand you give me all of your Naruto related merchandise due to mass product recall I am afraid that I cannot. I guess the good news here is that you get to keep all of your plush toys ^_^ (for now at least! Mwahaha my time will come!) ;-) Anyways enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

Her heart beat was quickly becoming more and more rapid as she looked into three pairs of eager eyes.

"umm." She began less than enthusiastically.

"Hokage Sama has asked me to put together a team to deliver this scroll to The Kazekage of The Sand." She continued shakily whilst holding the mysterious scroll up in her perfectly manicured hand. "I need to put together a team of four to accompany me on this mission. I have chosen you." She finished in an almost businesslike manner with a small nod as if to add a visual punctuation to what she had just told the three of them.

"God Kamo! You don't have to sound so professional with us! We've known you for years!" exclaimed Kinaga, her deep brown eyes rolled in amusement causing her friend to blush slightly in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry Kinaga san. It's just that I don't know what the protocol for this kind of thing is yet." Cupping her rose coloured cheeks in her hands in a futile attempt to hide her blush, Kamoku continued with her explanation.

"Hokorashi, I need you in case we run into trouble. Your Sharingan will come in handy if things come to blows. I need you, Shan, to look for threats with you Byakugan so that we can avoid conflict with the enemy as much as possible. As for you Ki, I need your medical jutsu if anyone gets hurt." Kamoku explained carefully.

"I need you all at the Main Gates within the next hour. We're working on a tight schedule after all" she smiled sweetly in relief at having finished her first speech as team leader. _It'll get easier the more I do it._ She attempted to convince herself as she dismissed her chosen comrades and began the short journey from their meeting place to her apartment.

Adrenalin pulsed through her vanes as she sprinted to her home to pick up her weapons and provision for her mission. The excitement that Kinaga felt for her first ever mission as a Chunin was visible in the way that she included a bubbly spring into her elegant steps.

Her own private movie played in her head as she visualised herself towering over the figures of her cowering enemies begging her for mercy. Smiling to herself at the image of her supreme power Kinaga continued to head on not really looking where she was going until: _THUD!_ She fell backwards onto the solid concrete pathway she had been costing along seconds earlier.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you ass!" She began angrily clenching her dangerously trembling fist in front of her furious face. However this action was short lived at she suddenly realised who she had –literally- run into. "Oh s- s- sorry Ganjou. I d- didn't notice you there" she stuttered apologetically.

"Well that much is clear." Chuckled the sky-blue haired Shinobi.

Looking behind Ganjou, Kinaga realised that they were not alone.

"Hi Hyoukin!" Kinaga smiled pleasantly. "Oh and Nonika too!" she added whilst making a fuss of the excitable ninja hound who had jumped up at her demandingly when it had been ignored.

"Sorry about her. You'd think she hadn't seen you for years!" Hyoukin began before turning lovingly to her four-legged friend: "Honestly Noni! You really should be a bit more ferocious by now shouldn't you?" The dog barked back defiantly in answer to her masters joking criticisms remaining by Kinaga's side.

"So where are you going in such a hurry then Kinaga san?" Questioned Ganjou whilst scanning the alleyway behind the fiery haired nin as if a rouge ninja would jump out of the shadows at any moment. Even though Hyoukin and Ganjou had been an item for years now -and he knew full well that Hyoukin was a perfectly capable ninja on her own- Ganjou still felt the need to be overly protective of his girl friend.

"Kamoku has been given a mission to lead and I'm going with her as her medical nin." She announced proudly. "Shan is coming too but so is Hokorashi." She finished with an audible groan as she said the name of her childhood, mortal enemy.

Being a girl who had to suffer through his constant wining at the academy- Hyoukin looked at Kinaga with sympathetic and understanding eyes. However Ganjou looked utterly lost as he took in the expressions of the two girls that stood before him.

Noticing her boy friend's vacant expression, Hyoukin rolled her eyes in amusement and apologised for his ignorance as she nudged him playfully.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I better get going anyway. Kamo wants us at the gates within the hour. I'll see you when we get back!" she called behind her –already sprinting off into the distance.

"She's very enthusiastic!" Ganjou stated as he and Hyoukin stared after her. Nonika barked as if in agreement with Ganjou causing the two lovers to fall about in fits of laughter.

Hokorashi strolled casually around his room carefully placing his Kunai and Shuricans into the various hidden compartments in his green Konoha vest. The layout of his room couldn't have been more different to that of Kinaga's as all of Hokorashi's possessions where arranged categorically and never left their designated areas until they where required.

His spotless room made the task of packing provisions for a short, three day journey painfully dull for the young Uchiha. But then again there were few things that could keep him interested for longer than a few minutes.

He was finished in a matter of minutes and -slowly placing a few chakra pills into the front pocket of his rucksack- he slumped out of his front door without so much as a backward glance at his home.

It was at times like these that Shan thanked the lord that she was granted the gift of the Byakugan. The distinct vanes of her blood line jutsu framed her beautiful face as she used her superior vision to search for her elusive chakra pill stash. _There you are!_ She cried in relief as she noticed the small wooden box that lay underneath a mountain of various cosmetic products.

Throwing the delicate chest carelessly into the pouch that was attached to her belt she realised that she was actually ready with time to spare. Pressing a delicate finger to her bottom lip she considered her options.

_I don't want to stand around on my own waiting for everyone but I don't want to start doing something and then end up being late if I get carried away_. She mused carefully. _I know! I'll go and meet up with Kinaga! She's always late anyway no matter how long you give her to get ready. _She smiled at her brilliant idea but couldn't help looking back longingly at the abandoned eye shadows and lipsticks that she couldn't -for the life of her- fit into her already jam-packed rucksack. Excepting that she would have to make do with just one eye shadow colour and some eyeliner for the rest of the week, Shan pulled on her knee high ninja boots before beginning her short journey to her friend's apartment.

As she wove elegantly around the streets bustling human traffic –her long, platinum hair streaming behind her- Shan wondered how many items Kinaga would ask her to find with her superior vision. The said scouting activity had almost become a tradition for the two young nin to complete before their missions together, as Kinaga's room had never been orderly enough for her to find all of her possessions without the help of Shan's snow-white eyes. Shan thought about how she had once found a Kunai deeply embedded in the back of her friend's wardrobe and how Kinaga's face had turned the same colour as her hair as she failed to convince Shan that she had no idea how it had gotten there. However Shan had a small incline that the knife had come to rest there after one of Kinaga's heated arguments with Hokorashi.

Her thought process was interrupted at this point by the sound of the infuriating giggling of stalking fan girls that could only mean one thing: Oishii was nearby. Sure, even Shan had to admit that the ANBU leader was -well- hot, but she could not fathom how these girls could follow him around like a flock of sheep._ Honestly, as if that's going to make him pay any special attention to you!_ She thought whilst glaring at the insufferable teens who seemed oblivious to all else but the impressive figure of the Uchiha walking a few yards before of them.

Transferring her attention to the man she blushed slightly as she realised that he was looking right back at her. Quickly turning away in embarrassment at being caught staring- Shan carried on running in the direction of her friend's house trying to ignore the feeling of those two gorgeous, onyx eyes baring into the back of her head.

Kamoku stood impatiently by the north gate of Konoha sending her most intimidating glare in the direction of Hokorashi. Yet again the Shinobi had managed to drive her fiery haired friend to distraction. Kinaga's fists flew through the air at Hokorashi's mocking figure as he dodged each carefully aimed punch- his eyes glowing scarlet like some kind of devil child.

This was clearly helping no one.

With a quick nod to Shan, she and Kamoku grabbed a violently flailing arm each as they pulled their angry comrade away from Hokorashi, making the three girls fall to the floor in an angry heap.

"Why are you helping him?" Kinaga shouted whilst shooting an angry figure at the Shinobi who was now standing with his arms folded in a fashion that could only be described as uninterested.

"We're not helping him! We're helping the mission!" Shan shouted back with as much anger as Kinaga was displaying. "You know Kamo work really hard to get the time schedule sorted out! We can't waste all of her hard work and turn up at The Sand Village late!"

The two Kunoichi faced each other with furious eyes for a second before simultaneously turning their rage towards the infuriating boy, who couldn't help but flinch a little under their glares.

Looking from her two friends to her obnoxious comrade- Kamoku suddenly put her leadership skills into action.

"Will everyone please just calm down and listen for once in their lives! God!" she cried with authority, causing the three of them to turn to her in complete disbelief. Suddenly realising what she had done she through her gloved hands over her mouth and produced a look of shock that made her eyes look like they would pop out of their sockets at any given moment.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry guys!" Kamoku said shakily from behind her hands.

The four of them stared at each other in silent shock for a while before Kinaga suddenly burst into infectious laughter that soon took over the whole group. Even Hokorashi couldn't resist the sweet sound of her bell-like laughter.

"Wow Kamo! Looks like you're going to be a bossy leader after all!" Kinaga teased between fits of breathless laughter.

AN: Well I hope you all enjoyed that ^_^ Sorry for the delay. I got struck down with a serious case of Writers Block about half way through writing this. Not to mention the mountains of course work that my evil teachers keep piling on top of me. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon.

Please review if you have time even if it's just a smile to let me know that you like my story as this will keep me writing for you. ^_^

Again thanx for reading everyone! ^_^


	4. Chapter 4: Realisation

AN: I'm so sorry about the huge delay for this chapter 0_o I've had far too much course work for the past few months :'( . However to make up for this, there won't be any important characters introduced in this chapter! And you know what that means? No more confusion for at least 2 more pages! Aren't you just the luckiest readers ever? ^_^ Also I have changed the format of the story a little so that different sections are told from certain characters points of view in 1st person. The view point will change a few times each chapter so I'll put up a sub-heading every time it changes to avoid confusion. I f you don't like the new format let me know and I'll change it in the next chapter but if you do like it, again, please let me know and I'll carry on with it. ^_^ Hope you enjoy this chapter and thanx for your reviews so far!

Kamoku

As I followed closely behind Shan, I hoped that I had made the right decision with the formation.

I had considered it- with the help of my sensei Shikumaru- for hours before I eventually settled on this one. I chose a simple diamond structure with my two sensory ninjas at the head and tail of the quadrilateral. Shan was obviously the best to head the formation as she was, one, the most familiar with the route from The Leaf to The Sand, and two, had developed her blood line jutsu further than Hokorashi had managed with his Sharingan. My hope was that Shan would spot any rouge ninja before they could move behind us for a flanking manoeuvre and that I wouldn't have to rely too highly on Hokorashi's jutsu which was more suited to combat that observation. I then placed Kinaga and myself at the East and West corners of the Diamond in the hope that my best friends powerful Chakra control would be enough to protect both of us if we were flanked.

But, just when I thought I had made the right decision with the formation, all hell let lose behind me.

Turning around, I saw a flash of fiery hair in the corner of my right eye as Hokorashi plummeted to a lower branch accompanied by the venom Kinaga was currently spitting at him through her curses.

Rolling my eyes in exasperation I turned my attention to the hot headed ninja beside me.

"What the hell was that for!" I yelled at my friend, my words echoed on Hokorashi's face as he jumped back to the branch he had vacated seconds before.

Shooting a bewildered look at me showing her clear feelings of betrayal Kinaga throw an accusing finger towards Hokorashi.

"He pulled my hair out!" she cried pointing from Hokorashi's bemused face to her slightly dishevelled hair.

This accusation was enough to put the young Uchiha on edge but he did not retort as I had expected him to. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders and plastered his cocky smile onto his face. Big mistake.

Sensing the danger that this expression would cause I swiftly jumped to a neighbouring branch far enough away to avoid the red headed fury that came raising towards him a millisecond after.

Hokorashi

I noticed a second too late why Kamoku had relocated to a different branch. Now I was paying the price for poor observational skills.

Looking up at her burning eyes I wondered why I hadn't just denied the false allegations that she had hurled at him in the same way that she was now doing with her fists.

I could have easily told her about the branch a couple of meters back that had snatched a few strands of her hair from her. But I didn't.

Why didn't I?

Because I loved to wind her up. But why did I love to wind her up? This was a question I couldn't answer.

I waited patiently for her anger to subside before standing up slowly and retreating to a safe distance leaving Kamoku to deal with the fall out.

Shan

Watching Kamoku rest her hands calmingly on her best friends shoulders, I sat myself on the cold grass with my back against a tree trunk wondering how Kinaga could be so easily enraged by the arrogant shinobi who was standing nonchalantly a few meters away from them ignoring the daggered glares that Kamoku was shooting in his direction.

I turned my attention away from the three of them and focused on my surroundings. With a start I realised that I was leaning against the very tree that I had camped beside the last time that I had made the journey to The Sand Village. I observed the position of the sun in the sky and realised that we where - despite everything – way ahead of schedule.

Raising my hand slowly into the air like I was a good little girl back at the ninja academy, I waved it slightly to catch my leaders attention.

"Yes Shan." she responded obviously a little more harshly than she had intended because her eyes widened before becoming very apologetic.

I smiled reassuringly at her before replying, "We could get there early if we get going now. This is where I stopped with Neji San when we were delivering that last message The Sixth sent to the Kazekage." as I finished I sent a meaningful look towards Kinaga and Hokorashi. Meeting my stare Kinaga shrugged and flew back up the branches to where she had been before her run-in with Hokorashi.

The three of us who where left on the ground mimicked her shrug and followed her, reforming our diamond and continuing towards our destination as if nothing had happened.

We continued in silence until sundown.

Hokorashi

What the hell was wrong with me!

I couldn't stop thinking about how the colour of the sunset reminded me of Kinaga's flowing red locks.

I couldn't shake of the urge this realisation gave me to watch her as she bounded gracefully through the treetops

_Gracefully?_

Seriously, what the hell was wrong with me? Ever since I had realised that I loved winding her up I couldn't stop wondering why I loved it so much. Every time I tried to push her out of my mind I caught a glimpse of the sky and my thoughts where drawn back to her.

I let out a sudden sigh of exasperation and grabbed my head as if to shake the thoughts of her out of my mind.

No such luck.

My outburst was misinterpreted by the very subject of my distress who whirled around to face me.

To everyone around me her movement surely must have seamed swift, but to me time seamed to stop as I took in the way the movement made her hair swirl around her body and how her deep brown eyes adjusted to meet mine, slowly becoming so sharp with anger that they seamed to cut deep into my soul.

My heart skipped a beat as the realisation hit me. I loved winding her up because I...

No! That was just absurd.

The two of us had been enemies and rivals since the day that we met.

Us...

We...

No!

I shook my head forcing myself from my internal struggle to face her.

"If your so tired why don't you just admit it and we can stop and make camp!" she shot at me angrily.

Instead of retorting like I would have under usual circumstances I just looked away from her encapsulating eyes and turned my attention towards Kamoku.

"Actually I am a little tired. Sorry I didn't mention it earlier. Have we got enough time to stop here for the night?"

Frowning a little as she tried to figure out why I was being so civil towards Kinaga, Kamoku nodded and began to move towards the ground, searching for a suitable pitching sight for our tents. She was closely followed by Shan but Kinaga held back for a split second staring at me with an utterly bewildered expression before she suddenly realised that we were alone up there and following her two friends.

She had moved quickly but I could have sworn that I had seen her cheeks turn pink in a way that they never did when she was angry at me.

I left about ten seconds before I followed her to the dark ground bellow.

Kinaga

OK. That was just too weird.

Why hadn't he been an ass like usual? Was this just another one of his twisted little games created for the soul purpose of winding me up? If it had been then why had he seamed so sincere, so apologetic, even a little upset that he had angered me again?

Letting out a huff of frustration I looked in Hokorashi's direction only to catch him looking straight back at me.

My heart skipped a beat and I felt my cheeks turn red as I turned quickly away from him and back to the Kunai that I had been sharpening vigorously in an attempt to vent some of the frustration that had built up inside of me since my last interaction with the Uchiha.

After perhaps two minutes had passed I looked slowly back towards him to find him gawking at me again.

That made me snap.

"Have you got a problem!" I shouted at him making all three of my comrades jump. Poor Kamoku even dropped the pans that she had been using to heat up the instant Ramen she had bought for our dinner.

"Hey, calm down!" Shan hauled her rage at me after being so startled that she had dropped her favourite lip-gloss into the bowl of Ramen that Kamoku had placed in front of her seconds earlier.

"Don't shout at her!" Hokorashi yelled before thrusting his hands in front of his mouth as if to stop the words from escaping and forming in the air between us.

The three of us stared at his wide eyed face in amazement for what seamed like hours before he stood up abruptly and retreated into the deep forest that formed our surroundings.

AN: Yay! I've finally got over my writers block! Hope you enjoyed that ^_^

Let me know what you think of the new style and the story in general. Thanx for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: Rescue

AN: New Chapter! Loving not having writers writers block any more! ^_^ Hope you enjoy and thanx again for your reviews so far! Also, if you like AMVs please check out my Youtube channels, lotrcrazygirl and topoftheanimepops ^_^

Hokorashi

I almost sprinted through the forest in an attempt to put as much distance between myself and their stricken expressions as possible.

My speed increased at the same rate as my anger.

How had that even happened?

I had already decided that I would just try to stay in her good books until I could figure out why she was suddenly having such a strong effect on me.

Shaking myself out of my ridiculous inner-monologue I realised that I had been walking for perhaps ten minutes and was now at least two miles away from them judging by the speed that I had been travelling.

Sinking down with my back resting on an old oak tree, I allowed myself time to think. I could stay out here all night. I didn't have to go back and face them. They couldn't make me do anything.

Under this realisation I became engulfed by my angry confusion and sulked.

I couldn't tell how long I was there until I heard it.

Kinaga

We sat in silent shock for what seamed like hours before anyone said anything.

Looking at my friends' flabbergasted expressions, I could tell that I hadn't imagined what Hokorashi had just done.

_He_ had defended _me_!

Why?

Looking back at my friends I saw that their faces where identical question marks as they stared in the direction in which Hokorashi had just stormed like an angry hurricane.

Feeling my eyes on them they turned towards me.

Even Shan looked utterly speechless.

To my surprise Kamoku was the first to break the silence.

"What the hell was that?" she asked – her voice mimicking the expression plastered across all of our faces.

"I have no fu..." I was literally cut short as a Kunai shot through the trees and tore open my shoulder blade.

Panic stricken and gasping for air against the pain, I frantically scanned the surrounding trees for the direction that the knife had come from.

As I scanned I saw Shan activate her Byakugan. A second later she cried "North!" as perhaps a dozen further Kunai streaked through the air from that direction.

Shan's call allowed me just enough time to save myself from the cruel blades by hurling my body to the ground. Or so I thought

As I hit the floor I heard a scream so terrible that I felt urged to spring up and run towards its source. But I couldn't find any energy in my body to make the movement.

That was when I saw it.

A deadly fang protruded from my side in the form of a poisoned Kunai. My eyes widened in fear and shock as I realised who had produced that most blood curdling of screams...

Me...

Hokorashi

The scream seamed to rip through the air towards me. Though I had never heard such a dreadful sound before something inside me knew that it was Kinaga. Acting more on instinct than conscious thought, I dashed through the forest towards the clearing in which we had set up our camp mere minutes before.

Although I was moving faster than I had ever done before in my life - it felt like a lifetime had passed before I reached the clearing.

The sight that greeted me when I got there was almost as terrifying as the scream had been. Before my eyes four cloaked figures towered above my team mates who had grouped together with Shan and Kamoku shielding Kinaga from the enemies' and my view.

Resisting my urge to run into the conflict head on and straight to Kinaga's side, I instead climbed silently up into the branches of the tree closest to the enemies rear so as to ambush them when an opportunity became available.

Shan

The guilt that I felt for the situation, that my laps in concentration has put us into, almost paralysed me. I should have stayed on constant look out for any slight Chakra signals in the forest, but I had allowed myself to be distracted by a petty teenage issue between comrades.

Shaking myself from my guilt induced immobility, I realised that now was no time to be wallowing in self pity. Now was the time to resolve the situation before me.

This thought cruelly dragged my eyes back to the sickening sight of the severely injured Kinaga who I was currently shielding from the cloaked figures' view.

Where was Hokorashi?

He should be here. But I couldn't search for him with my Byakugan without leaving myself and my comrades open to an enemy attack. Furrowing my brow in frustration I decided to play for time in the hope that Hokorashi would return to save us.

"Who are you? What do you want with us?" I pumped as much frustration into my voice as possible in the hope that anger would prevent my voice from betraying how sick I really felt.

"Oh. We have a feisty one here." the foremost figure hissed with an obvious smirk in his remark.

The others laughed there agreements intimidatingly.

Ignoring the nauseous feeling the smell of my friends blood was giving me, I kept my voice strong.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" I asked sternly.

"Well. I guess there is no harm in telling you what we plan to use the information on that little scroll, in your friend over there's hand, for. Seams you won't be living long enough to tell anyone about it anyway." The apparent leader answered cruelly as his minions laughed behind him.

Desperately holding back the urge to run away or just stand there and break down into uncontrollable tears, I chose to play dumb.

"Well. I don't know where or who you get your information from, but they must be even more stupid than you are." I sneered in my best bitchy voice fighting my desire to look towards Kamoku to make sure that she was going along with my act.

"Humpf." He sighed obviously not buying my story. "Well in that case you wouldn't mind me asking why you are out in this forest so late at night then?"

Not knowing how to answer that one I retorted with my own accusation. "You still haven't answered my question!" Before I finished my reply I knew that I had messed up. My voice had been too high pitched. Too fast. Too shaky.

I knew he had picked up on it too because he was laughing hysterically with his cronies.

Sending an apologetic look to Kamoku and Kinaga I braced my self for the inevitable.

They would obviously grab the scroll before any harm could come to it, before subjecting us to torture to gain as much information from us as they could.

I didn't know how we where going to resolve this one.

All I knew was that they wouldn't get anything out of me without a fight.

As fast as lightning I armed myself with a Kunai whilst shouting,

"Byakugan!" to activate my blood line jutsu.

As soon as my vision heightened I noticed Hokorashi's figure hidden in the tree tops. Suddenly I felt a glimmer of hope and held onto it, desperately wishing that it would give me the strength I would need to distract the enemy long enough for Hokorashi to make his move.

Sending my Chakra flow to my palms I thrust them towards the area just below the enemy leader's heart to stifle his Chakra flow and make our odds a bit more balanced.

Smiling mockingly up at the hood of the figure, I landed my attack perfectly causing the minions who had been previously ineffectual to run forward to support him.

Hokorashi

Now was my chance!

I sprang from the tree tops as soon as the supporting hoods had run to their leader's aid, and, drawing a Kunai, I embedding it deeply into the shortest of the hooded characters' back.

The cloak let out a groan of pain and fell to its knees, grasping hold of the hideous wound between its shoulder blades.

The remaining hoods abandoned their leaders side and sprang towards me wielding viscous poisoned daggers.

I could feel my eyes flash a bloody red as I activated my Sharingan.

Sensing their movements before they made them, I countered every attack they made.

This was too easy!

Feeling myself employ my trademark cocky grin I swiftly summoned fire to do my bidding, thrusting it skilfully towards them avoiding all of the vegetation that surrounded us so as not to burn any one but the cloaks before me.

I watched unflinchingly as they stumbled around before me trying to escape the cruel flames that engulfed them pitilessly.

"Hey! Hoko! Release them. We need them to be able to talk." Kamoku called over, confident of our victory.

Stepping over the two fire-blistered bodies I hastened to Kinaga's side and dropped to my knees beside her so that I was close enough to catch her if she fell whilst trying to stand.

Kinaga

Though I hated to admit it, seeing Hokorashi's return had filled me with an emotion that I couldn't label as relief.

Even now, as his unusually tender eyes looked down on me, this unknown emotion began to kindle inside of me again, giving me a strange feeling deep in my stomach that was completely unrelated to the pain the Kunai was causing.

I blushed slightly when I realised that I had been staring into his eyes for well over a minute. Tearing my eyes away from his, I realised that all eyes where on me.

I smiled reassuringly at Kamoku, hoping that this was enough to reassure her that I would be OK.

Slowly I shifted my attention to the knife that protruded from my waist, flinching slightly when I caught its handle on the ground as I shifted my weight to my knees in an attempt to stand.

Obviously I didn't do enough to mask the pain as I felt someone's hands reach for my shoulders and hold me reassuringly as I steadied myself.

Breathing quick, shallow breaths I grasped the handle of the knife and began to count to three in my head.

_One..._

_Two..._

"Three!" I called out in pain as I ripped the knife away from my skin.

The hands on my shoulders tightened just long enough to prevent me from falling to the ground, before loosening so as not to cause me any more pain in my already injured shoulder.

Continuing with my shallow breaths I took the small bottled liquid from a pristinely manicured hand and emptied its' content on to my stinging wound.

Gasping again as the liquid burnt away the poison left behind by the dagger, I felt the strong hands over my shoulders squeeze me reassuringly for a second time.

Utterly exhausted I leaned against the muscular figure behind me sinking myself into its surprisingly warm flesh.

As I felt myself drift into a deep sleep, one last thought crossed my mind.

_Muscular? _

But I was too exhausted at that point to even contemplate what that meant.

AN: Well that was fun! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Again, please review as this inspires me to write more! ^_^


	6. Chapter 6: Instincts

AN: Ooh! Another Chapter! Aren't you just the luckiest readers ever ^_^ Well this chapter is basically developing the relationship between Hokorashi and Kinaga so there wont be a huge amount of action but I hope you enjoy it any way ^_^ Again thanks for your reviews so far and please review again! ^_^

Shan

"She'll be fine now." Hokorashi declared after laying Kinaga's head carefully on top of a rolled up sleeping bag. "The poison is gone. She just needs to rest a while." He stood slowly, apparently reluctant to leave her side.

His expression explained it all confirming my suspicion. Hokorashi had fallen head over heels for his childhood nemesis.

I smiled sceptically, wondering how Kinaga would feel about this new development in their relationship.

Kinaga

I was reluctant to leave the darkness that held me in its seductive embrace. It was warm here, and blissfully peaceful. My joints where numb and free of the pain that now seamed so far away.

But something was tugging on my mind, attempting to drag me back to reality. I felt every fibre of my being struggling to cling to the walls of darkness that were beginning to crumble around me.

But by then it was too late. I slowly became aware of my heavily stiff limbs and aching joints. The wind swirled bitterly around me, lashing at the exposed skin of my battered arms and face. I shivered and flinched away from the biting whips attacking my skin. But my face soon founds its' way to a nearby warmth.

Sheltered against my personal heater, I began to relaxed, feeling the wind transform from a ferocious fang warring against me, to a caressing breeze that engulfed me in a tranquillity that almost rivalled that of the previous darkness.

Feeling content and less stiff, I allowed my heavy lids to open, releasing me from my blissful ignorance, and looked towards my heater with blurry eyes.

The first thing I noticed was that it was light now. Judging by the shadows on the dark green material of a Konoha Jacket before my eyes, it was about midday.

Next I noticed that I was moving. That explains the wind. I thought. But then I realised what this really meant. I was being carried.

By who? Was my next thought.

And then my stomach dropped.

Green Konoha Jacket and strong enough to carry me.

"Hokorashi!" I yelled – and was surprised at how much strength was in my voice.

He obviously jumped at my out burst because he nearly dropped me before clutching me closer to his chest.

"Shit, Kinaga. You wanna let me know your awake before you scream at me next time?" he laughed – a little nervously it must be said – as he looked down at me with a warm smile that disturbed me a little after years of mutual hatred and being used to sharing daggered glares.

"Put me down!" I ordered, struggling against his hold and looking away from the pair of dark onyx eyes that longed to trap me in their unknown depths.

Seeming a little taken back by my hostility, he lowered me gently to the dusty ground. But in my haste to escape my unusual contact with him, I forgot about my tender waist and moved too fast.

Gasping against the pain, I felt my knees buckle under me as I began to plummet to the ground.

I braced my self for the impact: but none came. Opening my clenched eye lids I saw Hokorashi's concerned face inches away from my own. His strong arms had caught me a millisecond before I would have hit the ground.

Meeting his worried gaze, I allowed him to lift me back to my feet and support me.

Breathing sharp breaths, I took in my surroundings for the first time since I had regained consciousness and was suddenly gripped with fear.

"Where's Kamoku and Shan? Are they OK? Why did you leave them behind?" I flung my frantic questions at him like deadly Shurikens at a training post.

"Hey! Slow down!" He retorted with a panic stricken voice. "They're both fine. And I didn't leave them behind. They left us behind. They've gone on ahead with the scroll. They left me with you so that we could catch up with them once you woke up."

"So why where you carrying me?" I retorted angrily in my confusion.

"It's been two days already Ki." He replied softly, "They're probably at the Sand village by now. At this rate..."

"Hang on just a minute!" I shouted, my anger rising with my confusion. "I've been out for two days! It was only a Kunai!"

"Calm down." he ordered a little more forceful in his tone this time. "It was a poisoned dagger, remember? The antidote takes a while to work."

Accepting his explanation I moved my eyes so that they met his. "Thanks for looking after me." I said, feeling my cheeks turn a little red in embarrassment at being the cause of our missions hold up.

His smile was so sincere that it made his features unusually handsome. I stared at him for a long time, reluctant to look away encase I had imagined this unusual vision of my comrade.

We stood studying each other carefully for a long while before I tore my eyes sharply from his, to observe the surroundings more thoroughly.

"So. Where are exactly?" I asked eventually, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had formed between us, whilst keeping my eyes fixed on the golden horizon that stood beyond the edge of the forest.

"We're about an hour away from The Sand." He began, before loosening his supporting grip from below my arms and allowing me to support my self on a nearby tree.

"I think we should stay here a while though. You need to rest ."

His eyes met mine again for a split second before he lowered himself to the ground beside one of the young birch trees that bordered the forest.

Nodding at his suggestion, I followed his lead and lowered myself to the floor against the tree that I had been placed beside by him.

Hokorashi

We sat without uttering a word to each other. The only sound that interrupted the steady flow of the wind, was the sound of Kinaga's sharp, irregular breaths.

I kept my eyes glued to the golden horizon, desperately fighting against my urge to look towards her and check if she was watching me.

_Why shouldn't I look at her? We are comrades after all, and I am supposed to be protecting her._

These, along with similar thoughts, began to fill my mind as they seamed to spin seductively around me, giving me the confidence to steal a glance at her.

Looking around quickly I saw that she was studying the jagged, angry red scar that betrayed her run in with the hoods. Slowly she removed one of her long, leather gloves and placed her exposed hand above the healing wound. I watched her palm slowly begin to glow a turquoise blue as she drew on her medical skills. Fascination gripped me as the scar dissolved without a trace before my eyes. Of course I had seen Kinaga heal a few cuts and grazes in my time with her on Team Five, but I had never seen her heal such a deep scar so quickly. _She must have been training with Sakura Sensei_, I thought with an odd sense of pride.

I watched her work for about a minute before she turned towards me and caught me staring at her with a ridiculous grin on my face.

"What do you want?" she shouted defensively, turning her head away from me quickly.

"Nothing!" I shouted back quickly, making her turn towards me again, her eyes a little wide.

"Sorry, Hokorashi Kun. I'm just a little tense. I'll calm down soon" She smiled apologetically allowing her eyes to meet mine again.

Hearing her say my name made my stomach swim and gave me a strange inclination to smile with joy.

But this would only anger her. I was sure of that.

So I instead chose to move our conversation to a more familiar level.

"I see you have been practising. I thought you where skipping Sakura Sempai's lessons?" I enquired, meeting her gaze and allowing my smirk to plaster my face.

Kinaga

His annoying smirk would usually have been enough to send me into an uncontrollable rage, but this time I noticed that the smirk didn't reach his eyes as it normally would.

_I guess he's trying to make things a little less awkward after that time in the clearing_, I thought warmly, allowing my new found respect for him to show in my face.

"Hey, are you OK Hoko? I didn't really see what you did in the clearing but it must have worn you out a little bit?" I asked, genuinely concerned about him for the first time since we met.

He seamed surprised at my sincerity, so, instead of continuing with the façade, he smiled at me in a way that made my cheeks turn a glowing rosy colour.

Mistaking my blush for rage he sat further back, against his tree and quickly removed his smile, replying to my questions in as flat and as truthful a tone as possible.

"Don't worry about me. All I did was jump out of a tree. You three girls did more than me."

Shocked at his humble words, I returned his previous smile encouraging him to see my blush for what it really was.

We smiled at each other like a couple of idiots for minutes before his eyes suddenly became cold and flashed with anger.

Taken back by this sudden shift in atmosphere I sat up a little straighter against my tree and allowed my face to portray the confusion that I was feeling.

"What's your game Kinaga! Why are you trying to mess with my head!" He accused standing up abruptly and pointing a threatening finger at me.

Ignoring my slightly tender waist I mirrored his movement and strode towards him threateningly.

"What the hell are you accusing me for! Your the one that suddenly decided you wanted to spend your free time gawking at me like The Pervy Sage at a hot spring!" I retorted, punctuating each word with a further step that bought me closer towards him. "And _I'm_ not the one that chose to carry _your_ unconscious body halfway across the country. I should be asking _you_ what _your_ game is! Does it make you feel powerful to say that you can sit and watch a sleeping girl for two days!" By now I was inches away from his angry face glaring into his flashing eyes.

"Well, I'm so sorry for caring!" He shouted with such force and truth that we both stood staring into each others shocked faces.

Before I realised what he was doing, Hokorashi had closed the short space between us and ceased my shocked face between his strong hands, holding my cheeks in his surprisingly gentle touch.

He paused for a split second that seamed to last a life time as he stared at me with his deep onyx eyes, filled with overflowing confusion and compassion.

I breathed a sharp breath in anticipation.

His mouth touched mine, softly tracing the surface of my lips with his, sending a tingling feeling through my body. Acting instinctively, I threw my arms around his neck and leant into his muscular frame deepening our kiss.

AN: Cue dramatic music! Dun Dun Duuuuun! 0_o lol. Yes, I know its all so very cliché, but what can ya do :p I'll try to be a little more original in the next chapter to make up for the unforgivable cliché-eeness (? 0_o ?)

Well I hope you enjoyed that. I now know what I'm going to do with the story so the next chapter shouldn't take quite as long to write ^_^

As usual please review as much as you can coz I love hearing your views and suggestions for my characters ^_^

Thanx for reading and for all of your reviews so far = D


	7. Chapter 7: Kamoku's Decision

AN: Time for some much needed fight related action me thinks ^_^

Enjoy

Shan

"All these clones are wearing me out Kamo. At this rate I'll be out of Chakra before we reach that next sand dune." I complained in my best winy voice, hoping to provoke Kamoku into an argument that would at least stop our bizarre clone caravan for a few minutes.

Removing her eyes from the horizon – where they had been glued for the past few minutes – Kamoku turned her frowning features towards me.

"Honestly Shan! Your lazier than Shikumaru Sama when it comes to long journeys! Your only using two clones for Gods sake!" she retorted pointing towards my pair of duple-gangers that where carrying an inanimate, hooded body each.

"Yeh, but those guys are heavy you know." I replied defiantly.

"I know! I've got the two biggest ones! You wanna swap?" she threatened.

"No!" I said too quickly whilst speeding up a little to illustrate just how keen I was to avoid this solution. "I just want to sit down for a bit. We haven't rested at all in days."

"I know that Shan." her voice was stubbornly stern, making me realise that I wasn't going to win this argument. Noticing my retiring expression, she look back towards the horizon.

We continued in silence for perhaps a minute before she continued. "We're only twenty minutes away from The Sand now. They'll be plenty of time to rest then." Turning around, she smiled at me but changed tactics when I didn't return her gesture. "You know, I heard that the Kazekage is a real hotty." she said teasingly, giving me a cheeky grin and a wink. I had been trying to remain stubbornly sulky, but hearing something like this from Kamoku and seeing her perform the most exaggerated wink I had ever seen, made me burst out laughing.

My laughter quickly infected Kamoku, making us all double over and gasp for air against our uncontrollable giggles.

It must have been a rather amusing sight for any passer by, seeing two sets of supposed triplets falling about in fits of laughter.

We eventually recovered from our plague of laughter, and soon continued on our way, gossiping about what the legendary Kage of The Sand might look like.

"I hear he's a fiery red head! Red hair is hot." I added to our little gossiping session.

"Hey! Don't let Kinaga hear you say that! You'll worry her!" Kamoku joked back.

"I think Kinaga has enough admirers at the moment to be worrying about my fascination with red hair" I giggled back mischievously.

"Yes." Kamoku mused, directly changing the tone of our conversation to a serious one. "I think she's going to have a little shock."

"You don't think Hokorashi is actually going to tell her how he feels, do you?" I asked, wondering how Kamoku could possibly think that Hokorashi would swallow his pride and tell Kinaga how he felt. Not to mention the fact that she would probably beat him to a bloody pulp if she thought that he was just making fun of her.

"Why wouldn't he. He's not the type of guy that would worry about an awkward atmosphere if things didn't end well." Kamoku said, ending the conversation bluntly.

We both considered her point silently, until we where about a ten minutes run away from the huge wooden gates that betrayed the location of The Hidden Sand Village.

At about this time one of my clones gasped, before extinguishing into a wall of smoke, dropping it's bundled cloak on to the blisteringly hot sand.

"What the.." Kamoku began to say before an army of cloaks, brandishing poisoned Kunai , sprung from the very sand that we had been running across seconds before.

Disbanding her shadow clones, Kamoku threw her cloaks at me with an order that made my heart stop...

"Take these with you and get out of here." She commanded in a tone that I had never heard her use before. It was so strong and confident, yet painfully resigned to the fate that she had just created for herself through those terrifying words.

"No way! I'm not leaving! Not without..."

"The scroll? Yes I almost forgot." Her monotone voice was the only thing that betrayed the fear that she was struggling to conceal for my sake.

"No you idiot! Not without y_ou_!" I finished angrily but when I looked at her I could tell that her mind was made up. She didn't make eye contact for fear of tears for our final goodbye, instead she turned her head away from me, holding out the cursed scroll that had caused us all so much pain.

Her golden hair was a veil, disguising the tears that I knew resided behind it.

Staring at the scroll, the inevitability of what would happen when I took it filled my mind with cruel images of her death, leaving me disabled beside her.

"You must go." her voice still held its authority, but existed as little more than a whisper. When I remained rooted to the floor she finally turned to meet my gaze.

"NOW!" She shouted, her hair billowing dangerously, revealing her tear streaked face.

Taking a final look into those sparkling green eyes, I created two more clones that picked up our prisoners before sending into the distance towards the Village.

As they left, five of the hooded deamonds chased after them at breakneck speeds.

"Don't you even think about it!" Kamoku raged "Blossom Stream Jutsu!" She cried forming the appropriate seals as her Chakra took the form of pink petals that exploded around her, before hurtling towards the pursuing hoods.

"You think your pretty flowers are going to hide your friend from us do you?" The closest hood yelled mockingly as the petals cut through the air towards his shadowed face.

"Not exactly" Kamoku replied slyly, with the very same sarcastic grin that was often worn by Kinaga.

Kamoku

Their laughter didn't last long once my deadly petal hit them.

Even Shan – who had seen this jutsu while I was still perfecting it – gasped when the deceptively beautiful blossoms collided with the enemy, sending them crashing back by at least fifty feet.

Laughing sadistically at them, in an attempt to mask my fear, I sent my petals in pursuit of the twenty or so hoods that had remained stationary as their comrades chased my friend's clones. Having witnessed the effects of my jutsu, these hoods where not so naïve as to consider its' power by the form that it took. But they couldn't escape even when they tried, and ended up joining their fellows on the sand fifty feet away.

"You need to go now Shan!" I demanded, showing my urgency through my eyes and hoping that she would understand that she shouldn't blame herself for whatever happened after she left with our scroll and prisoners.

Her eyes glistened with tears. She nodded and placed the scroll inside of her pouch.

"Hai." was all she could bring herself to say and even then it was so faint a sound that I struggled to hear it.

She turned away from me painfully, before following her clones path to safety.

As I watched her go, I hoped desperately that this wouldn't be the last time I saw her.

AN: Hope you like ^_^ Please review if you can find time as this makes me Happy ^_^ lol


	8. Chapter 8: The Battle Begins

**AN**: In this chapter Kamoku is going to reveal her true strength so I hope you enjoy her various powers. Let me know you favourite jutsu of hers and I'll endeavour to use it more often in the future.

Kamoku

The host of hoods were beginning to stand up by the time I tore my eyes away from Shan's retreating figure.

Realising that a battle would soon begin, I wiped the tear streams away from where they burned at my cheeks, before taking my fighting stance and reviewing my strategy.

I would have to figure out what these cloaks could do before hurtling myself into battle.

_Clones will work just fine for this_, I mused.

"Blossom Clone Strike." I mumbled under my breath so that the cloaks wouldn't hear. Seconds after my silent jutsu, five pale images of myself flew into the rear of the cloak swarm and began hurtling fists at the featureless figures.

To my surprise, several of the cloaks just coward to the floor, accepting the beating, unfortunately, this was not the case for all of them as the five largest figures drew long swords, from where they were stashed within their cloaks, and began hacking brutally at my clones, who soon exploded into a haze of blinding pink.

This, sadly, didn't teach me much. None of the hoods had used even taijutsu – let alone gen or nin – so I was no closer to learning how to fight them than I had been before I sent my crystal like clones into the fray.

Having seen the samurai sword though, I guessed that keeping them at about midrange would be beneficial to say the least.

_Just my luck_. I thought sarcastically. Having only close and mid range jutsus in my arson wasn't exactly fantastic under these circumstances.

I would have to rely on careful tactics if I wanted to get out of this one alive.

Taking advantage of the enemies' temporary blindness, I closed my eyes, placing my palms together as if in prayer, and allowed myself time to think.

My eyes reopened soon after the pink haze dispersed.

My plan was ready.

Kinaga

What do you mean, you haven't seen anyone from Konoha for over a month!" I screamed at the Sand Shinobi who was guarding the gate, before turning on Hokorashi.

"You said they would get here days before us!" I accused whilst pointing a threatening finger at the Konoha logo that rested directly in the middle of his forehead.

Looking a little hurt and equally as worried as I did, he responded by flashing his red eyes at me and answering me with as much anger as I had just hurtled towards him,

"They should be here! I didn't lie to you! You need to try and control your temper for once!"

We glared at each other before eventually sobering up, thanks to the Sand Shinobi who was whirling around us like an anxious tornado, desperately trying to calm us down and get some information out of us.

With one last scowl at Hokorashi, I turned towards the young, female shinobi trying to stand between the two of us in an attempt to prevent a fist fight.

She was pretty, about my age with shoulder length, straight hair and a beige ninja jacket over the black shirt that matched her knee length skirt.

"I'm Matsuri." She smiled sweetly, trying to calm us both down with her expression. "Who are we supposed to be expecting?" she asked.

"Our squad leader and a blonde Hyuga should have been here. They where carrying four prisoners with them." Hokorashi replied monotonously, causing Matsuri to turn towards him.

"No one has entered the village at all for the past week." she replied with a sympathetic tone that really got on my last nerve.

_What does she care!_ I growled inwardly making my face twist in anger.

Realising the signs that warned of an imminent anger explosion, Hokorashi quickly stepped around the brunette and placed his arms gently on my shoulders in the same way that Kamoku often did.

"Calm down Ki." His deep voice presented a calmness that seeped through my body, causing me to instantly relax.

I let out a deep sigh and allowed a frustrated tear to fall from the corner of my eye and trickle down my cheek.

Seeing this sparkling droplet, Hokorashi wiped it away from my face with his hand, which he allowed to linger on my cheek for a second, before dropping it back down to my shoulder.

"Thank you." I said softly, laying a hand on top of Hokorashi's and meeting his gentle gaze.

However our peaceful moment was disturbed by the harsh voice of reality, that took the form of Matsuri.

"Hey there's a few people coming over the horizon now." She informed us pointing in the direction from which we had just arrived, minutes earlier.

Recognising her long, platinum hair immediately, I charged towards her leaving Hokorashi's hands floating in mid air for a second, before he followed me.

"Shan!" I called enthusiastic as she came into ear shot. "Where have you two been?" I asked in mock anger, before I got close enough to notice the tear tracks that ran down her pale face.

I came to an abrupt halt a few meters away from her.

"Kamoku..." she began weakly, before collapsing to the floor in exhaustion as her clones exploded around her.

The weight of what she had just said, brought my world crashing down.

Kamoku

The swarm charged at me throwing a sea of Kunai.

"Blossom Aura" I cried in fear as a solid wall of translucent petals expanded around me – just in time – causing the Kunai to rebound and betray their own masters, killing the foremost figures instantly.

_Three down_, I thought feeling a little more optimistic, though I wasn't naïve enough to think that the rest of them would go down so easily.

The other hoods jumped back a few feet to avoid the refracted Kunai, meaning that the original, mid range distance was reinstated.

_That had not been part of the plan_, I reflected to my self, whilst wondering how I could get my strategy back on track.

I had a feeling that I might have to use _that_ jutsu eventually. Of course the jutsu would probably knock them all out instantaneously. But it would also exhaust my Chakra stores completely leaving me vulnerable to any enemy that might wake up before me.

I would just have to try and wipe them out before I had to resort to that.

Changing tactics, I withdrew all of my Kunai and charged them with my dangerously sharp wind nature Chakra.

As the blades began to glow a ghostly white, I released them into the mass of cloaks and heard several groans and thuds as thirteen of the remaining eighteen figures where sliced by the blades.

Six of the hit targets doubled over and where dead before they hit the floor.

Growling ferociously, the largest figure in the group drew his samurai sword and charged at me on his own, apparently blinded by his rage.

Drawing my inherited twin blades – gifted to me after my father's untimely death – I employed the jutsu so often used by him when he had once wielded them.

"Flying Swallow!" I chanted, sending a silent thank you to my father, as I trusted my life to the jutsu that he began teaching me as soon as he discovered my affinity with the wind element.

The blades exploded with chillingly white Chakra. The figure came within two feet of me, making him the newest member of the club of shinobi that had fallen for the jutsu's apparent lack of range.

The white glow that issued around the blades only served as a decoy that distracts from the invisible extensions created by the wind Chakra that has enough strength to slice through solid stone.

The enraged cloak fell before me gasping against the pain. I crouched down to slit his throat, causing the sand beneath him to be stained a crimson red by his fresh blood.

Prying his sword from his dead hand, I passed my Chakra through it before throwing it in a spinning motion towards the hooded crowd, causing the majority to dive out of the way just in time. Though two of them where not quite as lucky as their fellows.

_Only nine left_. I though positively as their severed heads rolled across the ground, where their faces would wear the ghost of their dying expressions for all eternity.

But it seemed strange to me that so many of them had fallen so quickly, and with so little effort on my part. They hadn't even performed a single jutsu between them. I had expected the samurai wielding ones to at least charge their swords with Chakra.

But this abnormality was of little concern to me at the moment.

There where less than ten of them left.

The first stage of my plan, was complete.

**AN**: There's a nice bit of gore for you. I hope it will brighten up your day a little. Lol ^_^

Anyways, let me know what you think, if you can find the time, because this make me happy ^_^


	9. Chapter 9: We Have A Problem

AN: Kamoku's fight continues, Will she survive?

OK, that's enough of the dramatic tension building. Time to introduce more gore into the world!

PS: Just realised that I have subconsciously reduced the number of villains to nine, black hooded characters. Hummmm, I think Tolkien is gonna sue somebody... 0_o

Hokorashi

Kinaga wailed openly into my shoulder, installing within me a fear much greater than the one that Shan's statement had presented.

Sure, I was worried about Kamoku, and had wanted to run straight to her aid after Shan had managed to gasp out the details of the situation between her sobs, but to hear Kinaga's heart wrenching tears was much more terrifying to me. It was so out of character for the strong willed girl to fall apart so openly, that I was completely lost as to how to react.

Of coarse I had to mask my own terror so that I wouldn't worry her further, even though I doubted that she would have been able to see me through her tear filled eyes anyway.

I thought back to how I had calmed her before, and decided that physical contact and carefully chosen words might at least stop the blood curdling cries of mental pain.

This decided, I wrapped a protective arm around her waist and drew her closer to me. This seemed to help, as she allowed herself extra comfort by returning my hug. Filled with a little hope at this reaction, I began whispering softly into her ear.

"You know Kamoku will kick their asses before they can do anything to her, right?" I said trying to put as much conviction into my voice as possible.

This received a shaky laugh from her, as she nodded her head against my chest. I smiled down at her reassuringly as her sobbing subsided, allowing her tears to run silently down her beautiful face.

Pleased that I had managed to calm her a little, I allowed myself to take in the details of what was happening around me.

The Sand Konoichi that had called herself Matsuri, was kneeling beside Shan offering her water as several more Sand shinobi began to swarm around them both asking for details and orders from the young girl.

I observed as she pointed towards the four cloaks and spoke inaudible words that sent the shinobi towards the figures, where they picked them up before carrying them towards the village.

As they where on their way towards the gate she called a further order to them.

"Send Kazekage Sama too, will you?" she asked sternly.

Though I had only met this girl a few minutes ago, I found it strange to hear this tone coming from her, and, by the looks on the other shinobi surrounding us, they found it odd too.

Removing my attention from the retreating shinobi, I refocused on Shan and Matsuri. The latter was beginning to help Shan to her feet, where she provided a supportive shoulder for my exhausted comrade. She then turned her attention towards me.

"Do you have any idea what is in this scroll?" She questioned, in the same, stern tone as before, whilst she held out the tiny, rolled parchment in her gloved hand.

"I have no idea. The people that attacked us seemed to have a good idea though." I paused a while considering what impact her name would have on the girl in my arms. "Kamoku is probably the only one that has any idea about that."

I was right to speculate on the effect Kamoku's name would have on Kinaga. As soon as I said it, she had began to tremble against me and I heard a weak sob that she had failed to hold in.

Looking at my shaking companion with sympathetic eyes, Matsuri nodded and turned back to Shan, asking her if she needed help to walk over to the bench that Matsuri had just gestured towards.

Shan chose pride over sense and shook her head. An action that she regretted within the following seconds as she plummeted to the sandy ground. Luckily for her, Matsuri had predicted this outcome and caught her before she could injure herself further.

Breathing a quick thank you to her saviour, Shan allowed herself to be directed to the bench, as I returned my attention to the Konoichi beside me.

She seemed to have calmed considerably since her last outburst so I broke our silent embrace and held her shoulders so that she was facing me.

Looking at her tear streaked face, I again had to fight back the feeling of terror that her sadness brought upon me.

"You OK?" I asked, stupidly.

_Of coarse she isn't you idiot! _I told my self with an anger that didn't reach my facial expressions.

To my surprise she nodded before striking away the tears that framed her delicate features and answering me in a shaky voice.

"I think so." The voice was so alien, coming out of the lips from which I was used to hearing violent insults and threats.

Instead of risking saying anything stupid again, I nodded and picked her delicate frame up in a bridal position and carried her carefully to the bench that Shan was currently occupying.

I had expected her to struggle a bit against my hold, or at least ask what I was doing, but instead she just wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into me.

I kissed the top of her head before placing her gently beside Shan who didn't even seem to notice her friends close proximity.

Tearing my eyes away from the two of them I found my self looking at a tall figure strolling towards us.

He was dressed in a burgundy cloak that billowed against the wind as he strode forward at a remarkable speed. As he came closer I noticed the trademark red hair and heavy dark circles around two teal green eyes.

It was Gaara. Kazekage of The Sand.

Kamoku

The remaining nine finally did something that I might have advised if I where in their position.

They charged towards me, brandishing Kunai and Samurai Swords alike and executing dreadful snarls that seemed to rip through the air.

I sent a silent prayer to whoever my guardian angle was, thanking them for the fact that the cloaks hadn't charged in this way any earlier.

If they had, I would probably have been dead by now.

But as it was, I had the perfect little surprise waiting for them.

Forming the appropriate hand seals with precision timing, a deadly wind blade irrupted before me, slicing the foremost cloak straight across the chest. It fell to the sandy earth, whilst clutching at its gaping wound, causing two of the cloaks following closely behind it, to trip over it's body.

The two tripped figures quickly met their doom as my Blade of Wind crashed through their Kunai defences, mercilessly.

The remaining six, coward at the sight of the deadly blade and began their retreat.

"Oh hell no!" I screamed at them with an evil smirk plastered across my face. "No way are you getting away that easily! Blade of Wind Hurricane!" I cried as my ghostly white blade transfigured into a shrieking hurricane and engulfed the remaining hoods.

The six figures where drawn, screaming and flailing, up into the air where my whirlwind ripped away at their cloaks and the skin that lay beneath. Their horrific cries filled the air around me.

I didn't even flinch when the screams stopped.

Gaara

"Gaara sensei!" The young girl screamed in utter delight when she noticed my approaching figure.

Performing an inward eye roll, I greeted her with my familiar, cold expression and a nod.

"Matsuri."

Moving my eyes towards the shinobi that I had been advised to see, I soon realised that the two girls where in no fit state to talk. Noticing the male shinobi that stood before the red haired girl, I addressed him with a nod similar to the one that I had just directed towards my former student.

"What seems to be the problem?" I directed towards him but I was instead answered by the enthusiastic brunette who had again managed to sneak her way beside me with out me noticing.

_Maybe I should have neglected her stealth training a little_. I thought with a smile that would never reach my lips, as I fought against the need that my body seamed to have to jump back several feet every time she snuck up on me like that.

"These Konoha shinobi where sent by Hokage Sama with this scroll." She began as she withdrew a small scroll from her pocket, and handed it to me. "But some... um... People, attacked the Hyuga and their team leader while they where carrying prisoners from a previous encounter. Is that right?" She asked before turning to the male shinobi who's expression was almost as cold as mine.

Letting out a sigh I chose to remind my former student of something that I had been trying to teach her for years.

"Look, Matsuri." I ignored the way that she seemed to swoon as I uttered her name. "If you don't know, don't answer the question."

She laughed nervously at this response, before backing away a little.

The male Konoha shinobi smiled at my response to her question, before addressing me with a sharp nod of his head and answering Matsuri.

"Yes. That's about right from what I gather."

"From what you gather?" I asked curiously.

"Yes. That's what Shan told us" He replied whilst gesturing towards the blonde Hyuga.

"Do you know why the ones that you took prisoner attacked you?" I inquired after realising that the blonde girl wouldn't be able to speak through the tears that streamed down her face.

"They said they where going to use the scroll for something." I looked in shock at the red haired girl that had managed to drive away her tears and answer me in a confident voice.

Clearly her actions had surprised the male also, as his eyes seemed to widen before he caught eye contact with her and smiled warmly.

Deciding that reading the scroll would be the best plan of action at the moment I carefully removed the green ribbon that Naruto had chosen to seal it with, and read the content of the scroll.

I let out an audible gasp when I reached the end of the scroll.

Composing myself I turned towards the shocked faces around me.

"We have a problem."

**AN:** Oooooo Cliff Hanger! Lol

I'm sorry about the hate towards Matsuri. I usually like Gaara and her as a couple but for this story I thought it would be fun to have a stereotypical fan girl flying around.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed that ^_^

I will probably be revealing who the villains actually are in the next chapter so stay tuned 0_o


	10. Chapter 10: Explanations

AN: Sorry for the delay 0_o Stupid English coarse work needed to be done :(

I have finally reviled the identity of the villains of the story and hope that you think they are suitable ^_^

Let me know what you think (especially about the leader of the evil organisation) Hope you enjoy ^_^

Kamoku

I moved from one body to the next, testing for a pulse. Whenever I found one, I quickly slit the owners throat with a Kunai before moving to the next cloak.

This exercise continued for several minutes until I had inspected them all.

At this point, curiosity got the better of me and I removed one of the cloaks' hoods in the hope of finding a forehead protector that would betray the attackers origins.

Instead, the thing that I found sent me jumping away from it, screaming in terror.

The face of my attacker was featureless, but for the gaping mouth that contained daggered teeth, aliened in several rows that resembled the structure of a shark's jaws.

_This must be some form of twisted summoning jutsu._ I thought in disgust, as I observed the two severed heads – that where still draining their blood into the sand – and found that these too, had lost their features and transformed to a state identical to the one held by the other cloaked creatures.

Letting out a shaky breath, I turned away from the ugly sight and allowed myself time to recuperate a little from the fight.

However, my peace was disturbed as a sadistic laugh tore through the air, making me flinch as it came into contact with my ear drums.

"Your pretty good." Announced the disembodied voice, as I span around trying to find its source.

"Yes I am." I replied fiercely, attempting to mask my new found terror. "And I'm guessing your not so good, seams you feel the need to hide from me." I continued mockingly.

A sudden flash of black flew from behind a tall sand dune and landed beside me.

"Stupid girl." It whispered into my ear, before drawing a samurai sword and forcing it deeply into my stomach, causing me to scream in pain as I jumped away from the new foe.

My blood seeped from the wound at a dizzyingly fast rate, as I observed the enemy that stood before me.

Another black cloak.

"What is it with you and cloaks?" I asked weakly, causing the hooded male to let out another sadistic roar of laughter.

Instead of waiting for an answer to my question I drew a Kunai and flung it towards his exposed throat.

"Manners." He tutted sarcastically, as he caught the knife by its handle. "I guess I should teach you some respect for your elders." He continued threateningly, before throwing my weapon straight back at me, making me fall heavily to the ground in order to dodge it.

I released a weak groan, as sand entered my gaping wound, where it dug into my tender flesh, leaving me in excruciating pain.

The male laughed his trilling mockeries, as I forced myself back to my feet.

"Do you want me to kill you?" I threatened, angrily whilst attempting to enter my battle stance.

The cloak continued with his mocking laughter in response.

"I guess that means yes then." I muttered flatly.

_I will have to use that jutsu._ I thought. _There is no other way now._

"What was that, dear?" the patronising voice asked, pulling me away from my musings.

I did not deem it fit to answer him with words, preferring instead, the use of hand signs.

I formed a half Ram, with my left hand and – removing it from my stomach – extended my right arm away from my body whilst facing my palm towards the ground.

"Amida." I called weakly, begging for her assistance.

The beautiful spirit obliged, bursting into existence, and enveloped me with an angelic light that filled me with hope and an unnatural strength – given the state that my body was in.

"You think your pretty little fairy is going to save you?" He asked in his infuriatingly, patronising tone and laughing again.

"Don't patronise us, if you want to live." I warned, feeling Amida's anger growing alongside my own.

"You really think you and your pixie have a chance against me? Foolish brat." He screamed his laughter after this.

That was the last straw.

Before I could even scream back an insult Amida had begun to twist her form in response to my anger.

Everything around me had turned red as I gazed through Amida's aura. Looking towards her features, I discovered that her angelic face had become that of a demon. Her once flowing locks where blood red vipers.

Seeing the cloak stubble away from us a little I gave a triumphant laugh that was mirrored by Amida, who exposed her dagger like fangs in her sadistic joy.

"What you gonna do, you stupid little bitch?" He cursed in his mocking tone.

"Looks like _we_ are the ones that have to teach _you_ some respect." I teased, imitating his sarcastic voice.

"1000-Arm, Death Embrace!" I cried – to Amida's apparent glee.

She unfolded her delicate arms from where they had been resting over her chest, and extended them towards the cloak with deceptive grace. A blinding light then issued from her palms as they multiplied into a thousand identical fists.

The cloak was engulfed by her fiery form as she rained Chakra infused fists at him, with lightning speed and flawless accuracy.

I fell to my knees – my body completely drained of Chakra – as Amida dispersed before me.

I allowed my self a smile as I observed the unmoving figure, laying on the sand where Amida had left him.

"What are you so pleased about. You useless piece of shit." A voice insulted.

My eyes widened as the figure lifted himself from the earth and shrugged off his tattered cloak, showing absolutely no sign of injury.

"Wh-what the hell are you?" I stammered in terror as I saw his uninjured figure.

He responded with a hysterical fit of laughter, throwing his head back in malicious mirth.

"I'm the last face you'll ever see." He answered eventually, whilst withdrawing several Kunai from a pouch that rested on his left thigh.

He charged his Chakra through the blades and hurtled them towards me.

I braced myself for the inevitable, as the viscous fangs that flew towards me drew closer.

_At least I'll see Father again_. I thought with a smile, as I waited for death to take me.

Half An Hour Earlier

Hokorashi

We looked towards The young Kazekage for an answer that he seemed unable to provide in his stunned silence.

He stood wide eyed, re-reading the scroll over and over again, seeming unable to take in the full meaning of the words before him.

After several minutes he eventually found his voice for long enough to utter a single word:

"Samurai." He announced, making even Shan look up at him questioningly.

"The Samurai from The Iron Country?" I questioned in disbelief. I had been told many times by Sakura sensei that The Iron Samurai where noble warriors that had aided the combined shinobi forces in the great ninja war.

"No." Gaara replied with a shake of his head. "There are other Samurai in this world – though they have only recently formed. The Samurai of The Myou Tsurugi." We looked at him in confusion, willing him to continue with his explanation. With a sigh, he eventually obliged.

"They are formed from the betrayers of The Iron, and they are led by a former Akatsuki." He informed us in a monotonous voice.

"Akatsuki!" Kinaga cried in shock. "But..." She began before the red haired male cut her off.

"Yes. We too thought that they were all dead. Until recently. Your ANBU leader discovered a small camp of the Samurai, several months ago."

This information received a gasped, "Itachi Sempai?" from Kinaga, who gained a nod from the Kazekage, before he continued.

"His squad captured the deserters and took them back to your village for interrogation. Your Hokage informed us of the information that the captured provided, and our Jounin have been pursuing the new organisation ever since. But it is only now that we have received news of the former Akatsuki being their leader." He explained whilst holding up the scroll.

"Which Akatsuki is it?" I questioned when he didn't continue.

"Kisame Hoshigaki. Monster of the Hidden Mist."

"But Itachi Sama and Deidara Sama killed him!" I exclaimed in disbelieve.

"Apparently not." Was all that the red haired male deemed fit to say.

The five of us became lost in our thoughts for several minutes before Shan eventually regained her voice and bought us back to reality.

"So what about Kamoku?" She questioned the Kazekage in desperation.

"Kamoku?" He replied with a puzzled expression.

Matsuri – apparently taking advantage of the opportunity to get close to her unenthusiastic love interest – stood on the tips of her ninja sandals and whispered an explanation of who Kamoku was into his ear.

Though this interaction would have been comical under normal circumstances – especially since Gaara failed to hide his disdainful expression from us whilst the girl was invading his personal space – Matsuri's behaviour left me feeling enraged at her for taking advantage of Kamoku's misfortune.

Aiming an angry scowl at the Sand nin, I continued Shan's question for her when she appeared, again, muted by her distress.

"What would you have us do for our squad leader, Kazekage Gaara?" I asked in an almost business like manner.

"I would have liked to have collected more information on the matter first, before deciding on how to proceed, though that seems impracticable. " He began, more to himself than to us. He paused a while before continuing.

"I will go myself to collect your leader, seems I know my country well and will be able to find her faster than anyone else. Not only that, I am best experienced in the matter of facing an Akatsuki. That is, more experienced that you four at least, so, if it is Kisame who has attacked your friend, I will be best equipped to fight him." He observed my fellow Leaf nin for a while before addressing his student.

"Matsuri." Again she swooned before hastening to his side. "Fetch my gourd." He ordered, neglecting any pleasantries that may have drawn the konoichi further into infatuation.

She looked a little disheartened at his bluntness, but quickly recovered enough to run off in an almost skipping fashion.

Gaara watched her go before turning back towards us, shaking his head.

"I would ask you to come with me to show me the way," he began, directing his comment at Shan, "though I would be less detectable if I travelled alone." He justified to Shan who nodded in reply.

"I didn't catch your names." He stated, his complexion a little warmer than it had been before.

"Oh yes. This is Shan," began Kinaga with a gesture towards the Hyuga who nodded towards the young Kage in agreement.

"this is Hokorashi," she then continued, flashing me with her brilliant smile as I mirrored Shan's previous movements.

"And I'm Kinaga." She finished offering her hand to Gaara, who shook it cautiously, before responding with a:

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, though I would rather have met you under less desperate circumstances." The Sand Kage finished with a sad look in his green eyes making us fall back into our previous, pensive states.

After perhaps a further minute of silence I heard the sound of dainty footsteps approaching.

"Gaara sempai! I've got it!" She called, delighted with her hasty collection and delivery of the strange, sand filled pottery.

She was greeted with a nod as the raccoon eyed nin excepted the gourd and fastened it to his back.

"Shan san." He directed at the blonde with a surprisingly soft tone that I believe made Matsuri's blood boil with jealousy, judging by the way that her eyes narrowed at the Hyuga whilst Gaara continued speaking to her. "Do you know, roughly, where you left Kamoku?"

I flinched at the bad choice of words that may have suggested that Shan had abandoned her friend, though she didn't seem to notice this. It seemed that she was concentrating more on answering the question, rather than the poor way in which it had been delivered.

"About ten minutes away in that direction." she answered whilst pointing to the horizon, over which she had appeared minuets earlier.

"Please save her" Shan begged, as a fresh batch of tears welled over her cheeks.

He nodded in response, before aiming some inaudible orders at Matsuri and sprinting away, without so much as a good bye.

AN: Gaara to the rescue! Du-du-du-da! ^_^

Lol

Well I hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think of Kamoku's jutsu and the villains ^_^


	11. Chapter 11: Anger and Guilt

AN: I'm sorry for the delay! I have been struck down with a serious case of Writers Block 0_o

Not to mention the mass of coarse work that my teachers keep setting me -_-

Well I hope this will be worth the wait for you. ^_^

Gaara

It hadn't taken me long to travel to the rocky outcrop that I now found myself using as cover.

Having followed the Hyuga's tracks for perhaps five minutes, I had come across the sand encased rock and – recognising it as the final piece of available cover for almost three miles – had chosen to remain hidden within it's engulfing shadows.

However, I could not see the female shinobi or her opponent from where the rock had chosen to place itself. But that was not a problem.

The sand grains that had been been resting with their brothers below my feet, began to stir, responding to my will. They rose as one, beginning to cling to each other as they levitated. Soon – as they reached eye level – they forced themselves together in a dense sphere that slowly transfigured itself into a fully functional eyeball.

I placed my left hand over my ringed eyelid and sent my new iris in pursuit of the remaining foot prints that paved the way towards the enemy.

I tracked my third eye's progress, being careful to levitate it no more than a couple of inches above the ground, hoping that this would keep it undetected.

I let out a frustrated sigh as I found the girl lying, apparently unscathed on the ground whilst her attacker remained a motionless, crumpled figure a few feet away.

_What a waste of my time. _I thought bitterly. _Even a Genin could have dealt with this simple fetch and carry mission. I could have finished those mission report papers by now_. These thoughts, along with similar ones, stormed angrily around my head as I began to tread my way through the deep sand, towards my charge.

However, just as I reached the edge of my outcrop's shadow, my third eye sent me a dreadful image.

"Shit!" I cursed, not caring if anyone heard the outburst that betray my loss of composure. Not that any one would have anyway, seems the sandy landscape was deserted but for myself, an almost unconscious girl and the shinobi that I, unfortunately, recognised all too well.

I sprinted faster than I had done since the last shinobi war, as I became filled with guilt for my previous anger towards the girl.

The sickening feeling that filled me as I ran, became stronger as the figure began to remove several sharpened Kunai from a pouch on his left leg, laughing hysterically as he did so.

_How could I have been so complaisant,_ I thought, slowly becoming enraged at my own insolence. I should have known better than to underestimate any one that had worked with the Akatsuki.

As I climbed the final dune that stood between myself and the exhausted konoichi, I disbanded my third eye jutsu and began to infuse the sand in my gourd with Chakra.

It seemed that the man was doing the same with his Kunai.

Kamoku

Death seemed to be taking it's sweet time to encase me in it's peaceful arms.

For some reason this was making me angry.

I should have been filled with regret at my early death. I should have been mourning all of those lost opportunities and all of the things I would never experience – _like Shikamaru sensei's famously bad ramen recipe,_ I found myself thinking with a warm smile as I picture his Wife, Tamari's expression when she had warned me to keep away from the bowl that my sensei had offered me last month – But I wasn't.

All I wanted was to be swallowed up by the numbing darkness that would make the pain in my stomach stop.

After waiting for what seemed a life time I tore my eyelids open angrily. What I found before my eyes was some what confusing.

A wall of billowing sand rose before my eyes. _If this is heaven, God has a sick sense of humour,_ I thought bitterly.

But soon the wall fell to the earth as if it had never existed, and a slender creature in a red cloak took it's place, facing it's back towards me.

_This must be heaven,_ I concluded exhaustedly, as I observed the red headed angel swirl golden sand around us.

Then the world was black.

**AN:** Sorry for more clichés. I really try, but my hands refuse to stop typing them. 0_o

Lol ^_^

Please let me know what you think of my Gaara.

I found it really difficult writing from his point of view, so your comments and suggestions would be well received.

Thanx for reading. I'll try and update soon with a longer chapter.


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